How to respond to interview question regarding why you left your last job without finding a new one?

First point, it often pays to talk naturally rather than in soundbites that sound robotic, legalistic, or rehearsed.

Using local idioms as appropriate, just say "the job wasn't right for me and I wanted to focus on finding something else".

Being available for interviews and quick starts, and having the energy to drive the search, is often inconsistent with maintaining existing employment - particularly a poor quality employment that has already worn thin.

Two months' unemployment - 8 weeks or so - is hardly remarkable nowadays, but if prompted on the point you can add "it has taken a little longer than I expected to find another position; it's a tough market".

You might want to mention you were going for government employment that fell through, but you don't want to make the interviewer sound like a distant second choice if they are not remotely competitive with government employment - in which case, it would be better at first to be non-specific about "other jobs" you were pursuing.

If you're pressed on what was wrong with the previous employment, airy platitudes and facial expressions that convey an emotional weariness are often best - "it just wasn't great", "the management left a lot to be desired", etc. - and definitely no ranting. It's unusual to be pressed heavily.

It's been a long time since employment at one firm was commonly for life, and departing without another job lined up was a sign of something serious. It's becoming rare now to find interviewers or HR staff old enough to think otherwise, and it may be a sign of a business whose expectations will be unreasonable more broadly, so don't pander to such attitudes - instead, it is best to come across self-assured that you are behaving normally in today's world.

Those are good questions, and you should have answered them before leaving your job. Now, the things are done and time-travel to the past is still under development and testing. Until it works, we will do the best we can with whatever we have.

The short truth is that you will not be able to avoid those questions if they are asked, and you cannot hide the past, if they are curious. So your best bet is to be open and relaxed about it, taking responsibility for your actions - even if the decisions were not (maybe) the best.

Why could not you seek a different job instead while having your existing job?

Possible answer:

I was already looking for a new job even while still working at my previous job, and unfortunately I was too optimistic about the future. That is why I left my previous company early - a mistake which I now understand better. That is a lesson I will never forget.

Why could not you seek a different department in your previous company itself?

If you actually tried to get another job in the same company, just tell them that.

If you did not try to get another job in the same company, you can lie about it and claim that you tried, but if they find out that you were not honest, you pretty much cancel your chances to get a job. Just to be clear: hiding (not disclosing) information during the interview (unless asked specifically about it) is acceptable. Lying is not acceptable at all.

Instead, you can work it around like:

I preferred to seek a job outside my previous company because I wanted to enlarge my experience and my learning opportunities in other environments as well.

This question seems like it's essentially "Can you explain this gap in your resume?", a fairly standard interview question.

An answer might be something along the lines of:

I felt I needed the time to properly research roles that aligned with my future plans, and to ensure that I had the right knowledge and self-training to achieve those goals.

This shows that you're willing to put the work into preparing yourself fully for a role that you truly want without saying how bad your previous job was.

This is important because employers don't really want to feel as though you're only interested in working for them just because you want a new job and the job they're offering might be better than the one you left.